


Two Worlds Meet

by julie_the_drawer



Category: Cars (Pixar Movies), Planes (Movies)
Genre: Canon Backstory, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, For the most part, Gen, I Don't Even Know, It's whatever you interpret it, Its Just Mentioned Though, Light Angst, Male Slash, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Post-Canon, The rest of the Piston Peak crew is mentioned, Why Did I Write This?, With some headcanon mixed in, backstory sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25438672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julie_the_drawer/pseuds/julie_the_drawer
Summary: Blade wonders about the newly-certified plane who is now part of their team. In the period where he stays at Piston Peak with the firefighters, Blade questions the plane's motivations and life before, and ends up revealing his own about himself.
Relationships: Dusty Crophopper/Blade Ranger
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Two Worlds Meet

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so this is probably gonna seem different and out of place compared to my other fics. Some reasons I wrote this is: First, I've been getting hit with nostalgia lately and remembering how much I liked this movie when I was younger. Another is that after recently watching the movie for the nostalgia reasons, I explored the fanfics for it like I do with all my fandoms and it seems that there is some pretty good fanfics out there and I wanted to contribute to that. Lastly, I just had no motivation and my mind just came up with this idea.  
> I hope ya'll like my attempt at a fanfic about talking planes bonding.

After a series of training, wild events, and a fire that took out almost their entire park, Piston Peak had gained a new addition to their firefighting team. The new member was none other than Dusty Crophopper, the world-known air racer. After going through all the training, helping protect their national park from the huge fire that nearly destroyed it all, and risking his life by going through this with a broken gearbox, chief Blade Ranger and the rest of the crew were sure that Dusty had earned his certification and official position on their team. Now that he was certified, Dusty would be able to help Mayday out and get Propwash Junction reopened for landing.

With his new career, Dusty has a lot of his time taken up. Some periods out of every year are spent racing like he was before, and the rest of his time has him back at Piston Peak again as a firefighter. Occasionally, he is able to take a break from both and visit Propwash to make up for lost time with Chug, Dottie, and have a little training session for fun while seeing Skipper again. Each time he has to leave one place and return to another, Dusty misses the others from there and can't wait to return when it is time. One thing he can say is that he hardly ever has a dull moment in his busy lifestyle.

Currenly, it is the period in which there isn't any racing going on for a while, which lands Dusty back at Piston Peak for his other career. Right now, there isn't much going in terms of fires to fight or anything, so most of the firefighting crew is finding ways to occupy themselves. This includes the Smokejumpers playing little games while Cabbie watches, Dipper soaking up the sunshine in a half-asleep state, Windlifter in his own space meditating, Maru tinkering in his shop with what he can find, and Blade relaxing at a cliffside enjoying the view of what the fire had spared of their park. Dusty decides to spend some time with Blade, seeing that he hasn't talked to him as much as he has the others since he got here. He hadn't talked to Windlifter either, but he didn't want to dare to interrupt his meditation, so he headed toward where Blade was.

In the midst of being at peace with the view of their park laid out in front of him, Blade hears somebody approach. He can take a guess at who it is, knowing that there's only one person besides Windlifter who would be willing to come up to him when he's having his alone time. He turns around to see that his guess is correct, the former-cropduster adorned in the red and black colors of their team rolls toward Blade quietly, slowly as not to bother him too much. Blade moves over a little to make room for the other as he comes up beside him. Both are quiet for a while, awkwardness of the situation sinking in, both not knowing how to start some sort of conversation. Dusty scans over the scenery of their lovely park around them, opting to use that as a start to talking.

"I hope they can fix what the fire destroyed."

Blade acknowledges his comment and makes a sound of agreement before speaking.

"Me too, but it seems that is going to take a while."

Trying to not let this fall flat, Dusty continues.

"Yeah, that fire sure was a big one."

"You don't say, and you were willing to go through it with a broken gearbox", Blade says, bringing up the events that happened involving the fire.

"I know that wasn't my best decision."

"But you were able to help us, even if it meant you wouldn't fly again.'

"I guess I learned that from you all. And it's thanks to Maru that I'm still here, because if I was as damaged as you described me to be, then I probably wouldn't have come out of that one without help from someone like him."

Blade had a small smile at the memory of Maru's great accomplishment, which Dusty noticed for the few seconds it was there before Blade spoke again.

"Kid, I've been wondering something for a while about you." This made Dusty curious and even more willing to engage with Blade. "Huh? What do you mean?"

It seems that Blade was deep in thought when he answered, "I just want to know. What inspired a small guy like you, just a cropduster, to try racing around the world and then end up becoming a firefighter after that?"

Blade's question made Dusty bring up his memories of before, and think about what had really inspired him.

"Well, ever since I was younger and little, I had dreams of making a name for myself one day by doing more than I was capable of. As I grew and was cropdusting, I heard about the Wings Around the Globe Rally and it became clear to me that was what I dreamed to do. So, I started practicing racing with my friend, Chug, helping me and coaching me. Then, when I got lucky and was accepted as one of the finalists in the tryouts, Chug helped me convince Skipper to be my coach and help me practice before the race. Making friends with the other racers along the way helped motivate me even more to keep going, especially when they helped me after my accident in the ocean. After that, when I had raced a bit, my gearbox broke, and the news about Propwash possibly shutting down, I knew I had to do something different. So, I came here to get certified and help Mayday keep his job while also opening Propwash Junction back up."

Blade, who was listening with interest to Dusty's story, nodded curtly at his words and said, "I never thought I'd hear or see something like that happen, especially not meet them in person."

"Are you saying you're impressed by me?," Dusty prodded at Blade.

"Maybe", he said, not showing it in his expression.

Dusty then became curious himself about Blade and inquired, "So, uh, what made you end up here being chief?" Dusty had already heard about Blade's previous career, but wanted to hear for himself what caused him to be where he is now.

Knowing that Dusty was so willing to tell him his story and his motivations, Blade knew that -as much as he didn't like talking about it- it was only fair that he return the favor and talk about his story. He took a breath, gathering the strength to recall the past events that happened, and started speaking.

"Well, you already know the thing that motivated me the most to come here."

Dusty nodded solemnly, remembering the story of what happened to Nick Loopin' Lopez, Blade's partner on the show CHoPS. 

"Nick messed up on the set one day while we were filming, and unfortunately it resulted in his death." Dusty could see how hard it was for Blade to recall the memory of that day and kind of wished he didn't ask.

"And after that, I fell really deep into a depression. I wasn't interested in CHoPS anymore, it just wasn't the same anymore without Nick, so I quit. Some time went by where I was stuck, not knowing what to do next for a career, and I was still trying to get over Nick. Eventually, I became interested in becoming a firefighter, so I flew all the way here, immediately started training, and when I was ready, I became certified. As time passed, the chief before me grew older and it got to where he wasn't able to perform his duties anymore, and since I was the one he trusted the most and the most experienced out of the crew, he appointed me as the new chief. In time, Maru and the rest of the current crew showed up, I trained them, and that leads to what you see today, including the whole story of how you got here."

After listening to Blade's story, Dusty thought about it for a minute or two before responding, trying to choose the right words.

"I'm so sorry about what happened to Nick. I'm sure he meant a lot to you."

Hearing this and remembering all the time he and Nick had spent together was a little too much for Blade and eventually, he started shedding some silent tears. He could say that he had moved on from Nick's death, but having to remember it and relive that horrible day always made him emotional. Despite how much he tried to fight the sadness and be strong for his friend, it got the best of him this time and he started letting out a quiet sob or two.

Noticing how distressed the chopper was and how he was getting upset, Dusty rolled close beside Blade and looked to him for approval to help him. Seemingly getting the message and Dusty's intentions, Blade gave a nod of confirmation. The small plane came to the helicopter's side and leaned into him, then he lightly embraced the other the best he could with his wing. Blade continued crying, feeling the punch of the memories and the sudden affection of the other who was helping to comfort him even when he didn't even need to and could've left him there to deal with his emotions by himself. Even after his tears had stopped and he had quieted down, the smaller plane didn't leave his side or let up on his embrace against him. The two stayed in that position for a while, grateful for each other's company and that they were willing to help each other. When they both pulled away, Blade looked to the other, briefly looking into his crystal blue eyes before speaking again.

"What makes you want to be so kind everyone, especially me, who gave you a hard time when you had gotten here?" 

"Well, I was just taught to treat others how you would want to be treated no matter what. Though, it was a little hard to do that during what happened in the Wings Around the Globe when everyone looked down on me for being a cropduster."

"Still, how are you still able to deal with me and all this after I constantly made it look like I didn't believe in you when I was training you? I even snapped at you that time we took cover in the mine. I don't see why you came back after all that."

Dusty tried to give reassuring words to the other.

''Look, I know that the only reason you acted like that was because you were trying to train me and make me better, and I don't hold any of those times against you. You didn't know that my gearbox was broken and honestly, I should've told you that from the beginning. I was just afraid you wouldn't train me and I couldn't help Propwash Junction. I don't hate you, Blade, and I don't think any less of you because you show emotion every once in a while."

Blade took these words to heart(or core) and was grateful for them.

It seems that it had taken a longer amount of time than they had thought to have their conversation, and they noticed that it appeared to be evening. The sun was noticeably sunk lower and the clouds were being colored pink, gold and blue, a sure sign that it was close to sunset. The two still sat there for a few, taking in the wonderful scene of it over the park and admiring how they both looked in the evening light. Soon enough, the stars were showing up and they knew that was their cue to head back to the hangars. The two left the cliffside and headed toward where the rest of their crew was.

Blade had finally gotten to know some about Dusty and what motivated him to do what he does today. Seeing how the former cropduster thinks and acts, he can see how he is able to balance his occupations of racing and firefighting and through him it also shows what happens when the two worlds meet.

**Author's Note:**

> At first, I didn't intend for this to have Blade and Dusty shipped in it, but after actually writing it, it kind of looks like a ship fic. So, I guess it's however you interpret it and see it. That's why I put platonic and male slash relationships in the tags. Personally, I'm on the fence between the two and see it as both but that's just my opinion. Feel free to take it as you see fit.  
> Other than that, I hope you enjoyed and hope that I made a decent contribution to this fandom.


End file.
